"Writing is a skill, not a talent, and thus one's ability as a writer can be improved by thoughtful effort. The problem with some people is that they graduate college as good writers, experience early success on account of that, and thus never devote themselves diligently to the relentless quest for improvement that could make them great writers."

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The AmeriCorps IG scandal is the sort of Nixonian evil that sends people to prison prison. The more you learn, the uglier it looks. As Quin Hillyer says, it's as sleazy and cruel as TravelGate in the Clinton administration.

Political bloggers are understandably enraged. And the fact that the MSM hasn't gone wall-to-wall on the scandal is a scandal in its own right. Beyond the matter of bias, the problem is getting MSM reporters and editors to take the scandal seriously. Their excuse of not giving it more coverage is likely to be: "Who cares about the inspector general in a relatively minor government agency?"

OK, so who cared about Valerie Plame?

The basic scandal of Gerald Walpin's firing is simple to understand and explain: Political payback against a whistleblower whose investigations of corruption threatened allies of the Obama administration. As Michelle Malkin explains, what Walpin exposed were some of those classic "your tax dollars at work" outrages that all good citizens despise:

The first taxpayer-subsidized program is the Teaching Fellows Program, run by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Walpin's audit . . . uncovered a multitude of grant violations, including criminal background check lapses and "pervasive problems of eligibility, timekeeping and documentation." . . .The second program Walpin challenged is the nonprofit St. HOPE Academy, run by Obama supporter Kevin Johnson, the Democratic mayor of Sacramento. . . . Johnson and his deputy, Dana Gonzalez . . . exploited nearly $900,000 in AmeriCorps funding for personal and political gain. . . .Shortly after [Walpin's report on the Sacramento scandal] the White House announced that it had "lost confidence" in Walpin. . . .

Read the whole thing. The Obama administration appears to be engaged in a cover-up and, as all veteran Washington scandal-watchers know, "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up" that leads to disaster.

This has all the makings of a huge scandal. Reporters who ignore it now will soon be wishing they'd jumped on the story from the get-go.

So just in case any "senior administration officials" are reading this: Watch your back, buddy.

Who will take the fall for IG-Gate, my "senior administration offiical" friend? There's going to be at least one scapegoat sacrificed to protect Obama and Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago gang. Better watch out, or soon some of your fellow "senior administration officials" will start leaking your name to their buddies in the press corps.

Next think you know, some member of Congress will be asking "what did you know and when did you know it." Then the grand jury, then the trial, then the handcuffs and the orange jumpsuit. Ah, the rewards of loyalty in Washington!

A word of advice, "senior administration official": You're dealing with Chicago Democrats, so you may not live long enough to make it to prison. If anybody asks you to meet them at Fort Marcy Park, your best bet is to go straight to the FBI, tell 'em everything, and try to cop a plea.

4 comments:

How many millions of dollars does this "relatively minor" gov. agency spend?

Here is something I don't quite understand: All these government run volunteer orgs. If I want to volunteer on a project I put my shovel in the car, drive over to where the hole is needed, park and start digging. Cost to anyone but me? Zero. So why are we spending gazillions of dollars? Please use small words to explain this as I am so much a poor dumb redneck that I still believe that volunteer means doing something for free. Except for when I was in the Service some forty years back when the SGT. Would say "I need three volunteers, you, you and you."

The country holds Republicans to a higher standard, which is bad in the context of liberal scolds on tv, but is good in that there is one party, for sure, that isn't completely wrapped up in post-modern goopiness, as the nutty liberals are.

Hit the tip jar, you ungrateful bastards!

Understand Liberalism

"When R.S. McCain talks about gonzo journalism, he knows what he’s talking about."-- Chapomatic"You are reading Robert every day, aren’t you? If you aren’t, you’re missing out, folks. The guy brings the good stuff every day."-- Jimmie, The Sundries Shack

". . . the one-of-a-kind Robert Stacy McCain, whose blog should be on your must-read list, if it isn't already."-- Dyspeptic Mutterings

"The most enthusiastic blogger I have yet to meet."-- Pam Geller, Atlas Shrugs

"The guy has to be the hardest working dude in DC. I've yet to meet someone here he doesn't know."-- Dan Riehl, Riehl World View

"One of the most important conservative writers working today."--Donald Douglas"For what it's worth, the man can also hold his liquor better than most; that's probably how he gets his scoops."-- Little Miss Atilla